TORCH Annual Fundraiser  Our organization, TORCH, does only one fundraiser a year, and that is happening right now at giveTORCH.org. This is a matching campaign and every donation will be DOUBLED. Please support the Jewish History Podcast right now at giveTORCH.org The website for the Fundraiser is giveTORCH.org Click and donate to support the Jewish History Podcast in 2024 We need your […]

Straddling the Mediterranean Sea is a very special sliver of land: The land of Israel. The land of Canaan; Palestine; The Holy Land – there are a lot of names that this land is called by. This is the land to which Abraham was instructed to go to. This is the land that the Jewish […]

Please support The TORCH Podcasts and the annual TORCH fundraiser at giveTORCH.org Every donation will be TRIPLED Show your support for TORCH and the TORCH Podcasts and donate to the annual fundraiser at giveTORCH.org – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – […]

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to record more episodes of The Jewish History Podcast in 2021. If you may indulge me, I would like to suggest to the audience to sample my Parsha Podcast in 2021. In this episode which covers Parshas Shemos, you can take it for a test drive to see […]

As we approach the end of December, I chose to experiment by doing something a bit different in examining the Jewish take on the Christian hero and on early Christianity. When we look at the Talmudic sources on the matter we find that our version of this story is radically different than the Christian one, […]

Chacham Ovadia Yosef was one of the most impactful and transformative Jewish leaders of recent history. In Part One we discussed Chacham Ovadia’s complete Torah mastery, in this episode we will explore his role as a leader: as a Rabbi, as Rishon LeZion (Sephardic Chief Rabbi), as a halachic arbiter, as a Posek (halachic arbiter), as […]

Of all the episodes that I have recorded over the years, this will be perhaps the most unique one. For one, it will be released simultaneously on all 6 channels that I am fortunate enough to host: The Parsha Podcast, The Jewish History Podcast, The Mitzvah Podcast , This Jewish Life, The Ethics Podcast, and […]

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, known the world over as “Chacham Ovadia” or simply “Maran”, was one of the most important rabbinical personalities of the 20th Century. His career accomplishments were staggering: He was a Torah scholar of absolute unmatched greatness. He was a transformational Rabbi – with rabbinic posts both in Israel and abroad – who […]

Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski was the last head of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania. He was primary disciple of the Alter of Slabodka, and his successor after the Alter moved to Chevron, heading the yeshiva until WW2 broke out, and even leading a cadre of students in the ghetto under ghastly conditions.  With the destruction of European […]

Please support TORCH and The Jewish History Podcast TODAY during our only annual fundraiser giveTORCH.org Support The Jewish History Podcast – https://www.charidy.com/torch/History EVERY DONATION IS QUADRUPLED Today, TORCH needs your help!! Today YOU can partner with us in the largest and most downloaded Jewish Podcast Network (The Jewish History Podcast, This Jewish Life, The Parsha […]

In 1933, Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz – the Chazon Ish – moved to British Mandate Palestine. Prior to his departure, the recognized leader of the Torah world, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky of Vilna had sent a letter to the leaders of the Yishuv informing them that a Torah giant was coming. Employing classic Talmudic phraseology, he wrote […]

The destruction of European Jewry during the Holocaust decimated more than the thousands of Jewish communities of Europe. Europe had been the epicenter of Ashkenazic Jewish life for 1,000 years, and with the destruction of the 6 million Jews, came everything that generations of Jewish communities had built over the millennium. A world of Jewish […]

Is a two-state solution a viable way to finally resolve the Israel Palestine conflict? Many in the international community believe that it is the only solution. After the horrific massacres of October 7th, 2023, the international community is once again amplifying the call for a two-state solution. Instead of punishing the Arabs for their violent […]

The turning point in the trajectory of the State of Israel was the Yom Kippur War. In almost every way, the history of the State can be divided into two eras, before and after this pivotal conflict. In the fourth and final installment on the Yom Kippur War, we tell the stories of the war’s […]

The Yom Kippur War is – at least from a military perspective – a tale of two conflicts: The early stages of the war were completely one-sided, with the combined Arab armies of Syria and Egypt dominating the battlefields and making huge gains and inflicting punishing blows to the Israelis. But the tide dramatically turned, and ultimately […]

The first few days of the Yom Kippur War were among the most disastrous and devastating days in Israel’s history. Thanks to unprecedented intelligence failures that we detailed in the previous episode, they were ill-prepared for the simultaneous surprise attacks from the Syrians in the Golan Heights in the North, and the Egyptians in the Sinai […]

On October 6th, 1973 – on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar – a coordinated, surprise attack was launched on the State of Israel by its two great adversaries: Egypt in the South and Syria in the North. The Yom Kippur War would go on to be the bloodiest, and most consequential war […]

Support TORCH and The Jewish History Podcast TODAY during our only annual fundraiser. https://www.charidy.com/torch/History EVERY DONATION IS QUADRUPLED Today, TORCH needs your help!! Today YOU can support the thousands of Jewish Houstonians who learn and get inspired at TORCH Torah classes every year! Today YOU can support the 18 Houston area Congregations spanning from The […]

We pick up the story of the Judges after the miraculous destruction of the enemies of Israel – Yavin and his star general Sisera were vanquished, peace reigned for forty years, but as we have seen previously, the period of the Judges is marked by ebbs and flows: When the Jews are behaving as they […]

After the passing of Joshua, the Jewish nation – newly settled in the land of Canaan, the land of Israel – confronted new realities that spawned new challenges. The leadership of the nation was greatly diminished – their future leaders were not of the caliber of Joshua and certainly not of Moses. They were surrounded […]

After the death of Moses, Joshua was tasked with the leadership of the people and with the invasion, conquest, and division of Canaan. Precisely 3 days after the 30-day mourning period of Moses, the invasion commenced with a rapid flurry of miracles, battles, and monumental events. This podcast covers the story of Joshua and the […]

Joshua was the undisputed leader of the Jews after the passing of Moses. Even during Moses’ lifetime, Joshua played an important role as Moses’ aide and confidante and protegé. Among his many accomplishments: He led the war effort and vanquished the Amaleks immediately after the Exodus; He was Moses’ right hand man in his lifetime, and […]

Moses was the greatest human of all time. His resume is replete with superlatives: He was the greatest prophet of all time, both qualitatively and quantitatively; He was the humblest man to grace the earth; He ascended to Heaven, negotiated successfully with angels and brought down the Torah and taught it to the Jewish people; […]

The Balfour Declaration was a pivotal shift in the prospects of the Zionist dream. For the first time, a major world power declared their intent – in a binding governmental commitment – to work towards the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Political Zionism achieved a major strategic victory, but actualizing this plan would […]

The oft-repeated refrain “history repeats itself” is especially true with respect to the stories of the forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as conveyed in the Book of Genesis. Our Sages have made the bold claim that everything that happened to our forefathers as individuals will be repeated to their children on the national stage. The […]

The story of the Jewish people – and truthfully the story of all monotheists, Christians and Muslims too – begins with Abraham. Abraham is of course the progenitor of the Jewish nation via his son, Isaac and grandson, Jacob, and his other son, Ishmael, is viewed as the forbearer of the Arabs and by extension […]

In the 16th century, the city of Safed in Northern Israel became host to one of the greatest collections of Torah Sages ever assembled, none more transformative or influential as Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal. Though he lived a very short life of 38 years (1534-1572), he revolutionized the study, perception, and understanding of Kabbalah […]

Kabbalah is part of the corpus of Oral Torah – like the Mishnah, the Talmud and Halacha – that was given to Moshe at Sinai and transmitted from generation to generation, but unlike the revealed Torah which was disseminated as widely as possible to the whole nation, the Kabbalah was arcane and esoteric – known to the very […]

The word “Techeiles” is mentioned dozens of times in the Torah, and is a subject that appears in many places in the Talmud and associated literature. Techeiles is both a color and a material, namely wool dyed with this color, but to fulfill the Torah’s requirement for this particular color it can only be derived from the […]

On the 6th of Tammuz, July 4th 1976,  a team of Israeli commandos flew 2500 miles undetected across hostile countries, raided the Entebbe airport in Uganda and rescued 100 Jews who were being held hostage after their commercial plane was hijacked. This stunning, daring, audacious, miraculous Hollywoodesque rescue wowed the world, and galvanized the Jewish […]

The story of the Ten Lost Tribes is shrouded in mystery, replete with legends and folklore. At its core it is one of the greatest tragedies of Jewish history. It began with the worst schism and civil war in our history. The rift persisted for decades and was never resolved despite many concerted efforts of the great prophets […]

After the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed, the Sanhedrin at Yavneh became the epicenter of Jewish life. Though the pride of the nation – The Holy Temple in Jerusalem which was standing for 420 years – was destroyed, and tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Jews were massacred, Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai’s negotiations with Vespasian […]

The Sanhedrin, the highest halachic authority in the Land comprised of the 71 greatest scholars in the Jewish world, was the Supreme Court of the Jewish Nation. It was founded by Moshe about a year after the Revelation at Sinai and continued almost uninterrupted for 1700 years. This body played an instrumental role in guiding and […]

David is now the undisputed king of Israel, but before him lay several key tasks: Of course the various Philistine and Canaanite tribes continue to be a pest, and David must subdue them to create lasting stability. Most importantly, however, David needs to corral the tribes of Israel who were formerly loyal to Saul and Ish […]

The holiday of Chanukah commemorates the triumph of the Maccabean Revolt over the oppressive regime of Antiochus IV and the Seleucid Empire. In this podcast we tell the story of this miraculous victory of the weak over the mighty; the few over the many; the pure over the impure; and the righteous over the wicked. NOTE: This Podcast […]

King David was anointed as the second king of Israel by the prophet Samuel and is considered the archetype of the Jewish king who earned the mantle of monarchy for his descendants forever. He authored the Psalms, which until this day are the ultimate manifestation of the Jewish soul yearning for its Creator and praying and beseeching […]

Annual Appeal To my dear listeners, At TORCH we have a simple philosophy: We give stimulating and engaging and relevant Torah teachings every day. But there is one day a year that we ask our friends, students, supporters and partners to give to TORCH. Today is that day. Today we will, please God, raise the […]

The Purim Story begins with King Achashverosh, the Persian king who ruled from Hodu until Cush (India until Ethiopia), making a massive feast for all the ministers and noblemen of Persia and Media that lasted for 180 days. Soon afterwards Achashverosh partners with the wicked Haman to annihilate the entire Jewish nation. In this podcast […]

Purim is a holiday celebrated by Jews worldwide on the 14th day of the month of Adar, and in Jerusalem and walled cities on the fifteenth day of Adar. It commemorates the story of the salvation of the Jewish nation from the genocidal plans of Haman and Achashveirosh in Persia. How did the Jews end up living […]

Prayer is a central aspect of Jewish life. The second mishnah in Pirkei Avos identifies the three pillars that uphold the world, one of them being prayer. Prayer also occupies a large part of Jewish observance: we pray thrice daily, four times on Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, holidays and festivals, and five times on Yom Kippur, amounting […]

The ancient and historic city of Jerusalem is the most contested piece of real estate on the planet. For Jews, it is the center of the world; it is the hallowed grounds upon which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob treaded and prayed; it was the site of the two Temples, and of the long-awaited third Temple. […]

The holiday of Chanukah commemorates the triumph of the Maccabean Revolt over the oppressive regime of Antiochus IV and the Seleucid Empire. In this podcast we tell the story of this miraculous victory of the weak over the mighty; the few over the many; the pure over the impure; and the righteous over the wicked. NEW PODCAST – […]

The burgeoning yeshiva movement today, and indeed the fact that yeshivos did not go extinct a century ago, is due to Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, known the world over as the Alter of Slabodka, more than any one person. He was the first to combine two of the greatest movements of the 19th century into one, […]

Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, known the world over as the Alter of Slabodka, was and is the greatest builder of Torah of the last several centuries. The burgeoning yeshiva movement today, and indeed the fact that yeshivos did not go extinct a century ago, is due to him more than any one person. He was the first […]

Rabbi Chaim Soloveichik, the scion of a prestigious rabbinical family, was the father of a new penetrating, incisive, and brilliant approach to Talmudic study and analysis that took the Yeshiva world by storm and is now ubiquitously accepted in the Yeshiva world. In addition to those accomplishments, he was also the paragon of kindness. In this […]

The Jewish people are at war. Our brethren in Israel are in midst of a fierce war in Gaza against the terrorist organization Hamas. The objectives of the campaign are the complete elimination of Hamas leadership and infrastructure, and the safe return of the more than 200 hostages captured by the terrorists on the brutal […]

By the 1840s, ferocious winds of changes were sweeping through the Jewish nation, and leaving wreckage and carnage in the wake of their consuming vortexes. The spiritual standing of the nation was under assault from without and vulnerable from within. Several great, innovative leaders rose up and created movements aimed at rebuffing the threats. In this […]

To see pictures of the devastation of the TORCH Centre please visit http://rabbiwolbe.com/harvey/ To make a donation to the rebuilding of the TORCH Centre please visit rebuildtorch.com Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin was a man of extraordinary character and scholarship, and the most prominent disciple of the Gaon of Vilna, who succeeded him as leader of Lithuanian Jewry in […]

19th Century German Jewry was faced unprecedented, hitherto unseen threats to its continuity. Due to the rise of Reform and the Haskalah movements bent on drawing Jews away from Torah, coupled with the circumstances – the Emancipation and the relaxing of the hostility towards the Jews all over Europe – that enabled assimilation into the greater […]

The Haskalah movement that swept through European Jewry in the 19th Century, brought about several different responses from what became known as the Orthodox communities. In Hungary, Rabbi Moshe Sofer, known by the name of one his books as the “Chasam Sofer”, championed a zero-tolerance approach of rejecting modernity of all kinds. His motto was – Chadash […]